Frequency spectrum analyzers are relatively common products with a broad range of commercial applications. Examples of such applications include, but are not limited to, commercial RF (radio frequency) technologies such, as AM, Cellular, PCS, DCS, 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE, CDMA, cdmaOne, CDMA 2000, W-CDMA/CDMA, 1× EV-DO, DECT phones, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, FM, UMTS, HSDPA, W-CDMA, TDMA, AMPS as well as 802.11, Bluetooth, Broadcast, Emergency, Fire, GPS, HDTV, IBOC, In-Building, Microwave, NPSPAC, Paging, Police, Private radio, Project 25, Public, RADAR, Safety, Telematics, TETRA, Trunking, UMTS, Utilities, WiMAX, Wi-Fi, WLAN and WLL. Spectrum analyzers are used to perform a wide variety of tasks that can occur in connection with these commercial RF applications such as installation, maintenance, troubleshooting, antenna alignment, RF measurements for radio and TV broadcasting, mobile phone base station radiation power density measurements, magnetic interference or leakage from motors and/or miscellaneous machinery, testing of wiring for RF energy, electromagnetic field strength measurement for various EMC limits, and cellular/cordless phone radiation levels.
Additional examples of the commercial use of spectrum analyzers during everyday tasks include searching for unknown RF transmissions, FCC compliance, monitoring blasting sites, identifying RF interference impacting communications systems, security surveys for corporate board rooms, VIP protection, protection of intellectual property, detection and location of magnetic fields, and detection of signal interference and undesired RF emissions from medical equipment.
Universities, community colleges, vocational schools, and high schools also use spectrum analyzers for educational labs and research. There is a similar demand from small start-up companies, hobbyists and individual inventors for a low cost spectrum analyzer that they can use in developing and exploring new product innovations. Spectrum analyzers are also often used in the home to address personal living environment RF safety concerns.
Unfortunately, many currently available spectrum analyzers are overly complicated to use, primarily adapted to sophisticated engineering use and generally ill-suited to perform the more common commercial tasks for which they are commonly used. In particular, many spectrum analyzers utilize graphical displays that make review of spectrum analyzer data cumbersome and difficult to analyze. Therefore, what is needed is an improved method of displaying spectrum analyzer data and an improved graphical display for a spectrum analyzer that is easy to use and adapted to the needs of the commercial user.